Ash handling equipment



F. B ALLEN ASH HANDLING EQUIPMENT Filed Feb. 25, 1927 I R 1 L F o m W GIRDER Uunsnifig amaze (mum sms WAL R V cri Ritented Sept. 1, 1931 tenses" UNITEDAUSTATES PATENT orrica FRANK B. ALLEN, 0F LOWER MARION TOWNSHIP, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYL VANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE ALLEN-SHERMAN HOFF C01 PANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA ASH HANDLING EQUIPMENT Application filed February 25, 1927. Serial No. 170,792.

This invention relates to apparatus for handling ashes or other solid material and is particularly applicable to handling, the ashes produced by the combustion of fuel in a boiler furnace.

Heretofore operators of large power plants have been seriously affected by defective ash control and handling apparatus. The larger the plant the more serious and aggravated the troubles arising from this source became.

Almost any mediocre means for handling the solid refuse of a small plant will give reasonable satisfaction but, as the size of the plant is increased and with the coming of automatic stokers, forced drafts and the like, the matter of handling large volumes of solid material in a heated condition which results from a rapid combustion, together with the necessity for cooling the heated solid products has become more and more serious and the deficiencies of the old types of equipment have become more and more noticeable and accentuated.

The problem that confronts the installer and the manufacturer of these types of equipment is not only a question of effectiveness and efiiciency of the mechanism in operation but likewise of the cost of construction, and heretofore these questions have not been satisfactorily answered in a single apparatus as they have in the present invention.

Until very recently a boiler containing 5,000 square feet of heating surface, for example, was called a 500 horsepower boiler. Today the same boiler is operated to produce one thousand to 1500 and even 2000 horsepower. To obtain this result it has been necessary to resort to forced draft which, incidentally, produces ash that is more difficult to handle than that produced without the forced draft. The difiiculty of handling the ash is further aggravated by the increasing tendency to use coal of lower grade and by the fact that whereas formerly the size of the boiler seldom exceeded 500 horsepower, now they are practically all between 1400 and 2500 horsepower.

The net result of all these new conditions is that, whereas formerly in a large installation, about three and one-half tons of clean, disintegrated ashes had to be remoyed from a single boiler daily,today from 20 to 50 tons of clinkered ash, highly heated, must Then it is be handled from each boiler. further considered that in the modern stations there are provided from 10 to 20 such boilers, the difficulty of handling the ash becomes apparent.

By applications of my invention I am able to handle large quantities of highly heated solid residues produced by the rapid com: busticn of fuel very readily and eiiiciently, am able. to cool the same, and do not require elaborate or expensive apparatus therefor.

The invention will be better understood from the description of one practical embodiment thereof, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly in section from below of one form of hopper embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar view from above of a similar embodiment, and,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross section of the side of a door and its supporting frame.

This application is a continuation in part of my co-pending application No. 454,321

equipment and the like.

Referring more in detail to the drawings it will be understood that the hoppers are associated with the grates of boilers (not shown) which may be of an under-feed forced draft, or other desired type. These hoppers are positioned in alignment beneath the ends of the grates and arranged so that ashes will drop from the grates into the hoppers. The hoppers are preferably suspended from beams which support parts of the furnace structure and are shown as bein suspended from beams 1 under the bridge wall of the furnace and beams 2 under the end of the stoker.

The hopper itself includes a metallic outer frame, the bottom of which is a substantially horizontal gate frame 3, and is provided with openings and doors 4:, the frame and doors comprising gates for controlling the slightlydischarge of material therefrom. This frame is suspended below the beams 1 and 2 by ribs 5, shown as angular cross-sectional steel members. 011 the inner side of the ribs is secured by rivets, bolts or any other suitable means a metallic sheathing composed of plates 6 which form the outer layer of the hopper walls. The walls are lined with refractory material 7 supported by the gate frames and plates (5. As illustrated the side walls of the hopper diverge downwardly and so prevent any tendency of the ashes to arch over as is the case with converging hopper walls.

The gates 4 may be operated by any suitable means, as by pistons operating in cylinders 8 and moved by a fluid pressure and are, as shown, provided with rollers 9 on which they may be moved along track-ways formed in the gate frames and upon supporting beams 10. The side and rear edges of the doors 4: project upwardly above the top surface thereof as indicated at 11.

\Vithin the hopper adjacent the walls and near the top thereof are two longitudinally extending pipes 12, protected by suitable hoods 13. The pipes are perforated at 14 and are connected to a supply of water so this may be sprayed upon the material within the hopper to wet and cool the same and so facilitate the handling thereof, the perforations constituting nozzles to distribute the water.

A transverse trough 15 is provided below each gate frame in a position to receive water flowing from the front end of the gate, that is, the end remote from the cylinder. EX- tending along the sides and rear of the door is a similar trough 16 which receives liquid from the door and conducts the same to the open ends at the front of the door. When the door is in closed position, the ends of trough 16 overhang the stationary trough 15 and discharge the liquid into the latter from which it escapes through a drain 17 The sides of the gate frame are provided with integral flanges or ridges 18 which direct any material, liquid or solid, escapilng o'ver edges 11 downwardly into trough While I have described the illustrated embodiments of my invention in some particularity, obviously many variations and 1nodifications thereof will readily occur to those skilled in the art to which it appertains, and I do not therefore limit myself to the precise structure shown and described but claim as my invention all the embodiments thereof coming within the scope of the subjoined claim.

In combination with a furnace for burning ash producing fuel, a metallic hopper having an ash receiving opening at its upper end communicating with said furnace, said hopper being lined with refractory mate- FRANK B. ALLEN. 

